“I am loving it,” he said. “They compete every day in practice. That’s all I can ask.

“This year we will compete in pretty much every game. My kids are really working hard.”

Desautel has no idea how good Omak will be until it plays.

The said Okanogan and Cashmere, which earned state trophies, will be tough.

Omak goes to Lake Roosevelt today and is at Almira/Coulee-Hartline on Saturday.

PATEROS — Pateros returns seven of its eight varsity players from last year.

“We didn’t have any seniors so that helped with our younger guys to step up early and take the lead,” coach Marcus Stennes said. “We have also added some new faces to our varsity squad which is going to help our team have some depth.”

He predicted Waterville and Entiat will be tough.

“We are all pretty evenly matched, so it will be a good matchup each time we meet,” he said.

The Billygoats play at Brewster on Friday.

OROVILLE — Oroville returns four starters, which could make the Hornets a tough team to beat.

“We should definitely be in the hunt for the league title,” said first-year coach Jay Thacker, who said Joe Sarmiento and Juan Lopez made all conference teams last year.

Thacker, 37, comes to Oroville having most recently coached Goldendale for six years (although not last year).

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know how good the league is,” Thacker said. “I have not seen everybody. I don’t know how we will compete. The Hornets’ first game is against Curlew at home Saturday.